The bottom line is clear: Our vital interests in Afghanistan are limited and military victory is not the key to achieving them. On the contrary, waging a lengthy counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan may well do more to aid Taliban recruiting than to dismantle the group, help spread conflict further into Pakistan, unify radical groups that might otherwise be quarreling amongst themselves, threaten the long-term health of the U.S. economy, and prevent the U.S. government from turning its full attention to other pressing problems. -- Afghanistan Study Group

Brigade linked to Afghan civilian deaths had aggressive, divergent war strategy -- By the time the 3,800-member brigade returned in July to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Wash., it had paid a steep price: 35 soldiers were killed in combat, six were dead from accidents and other causes, and 239 were wounded.

Baghdad:#1: Unidentified gunmen riding in a taxi killed the Shiite cleric in the Orphalie district of central Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

#2: One policeman was killed Thursday by a sticky bomb explosion in central Baghdad, according to a security source. “A bomb, attached to the vehicle of a policeman, went off in al-Saadon region, central Baghdad, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast injured a passing civilian,” he added.

#3: One civilian was killed and another one was wounded in a sticky bomb blast in eastern Baghdad, a police source said. “The bomb, stuck to a civilian car, went off in al-Talibiya region, eastern Baghdad, killing the driver and injuring the man beside him, and damaging the car,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Four people were killed and seven were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off targeting the motorcade of al-Iraqiya List member Abdulkarim Mahoud in south of Baghdad, according to a security source. “The explosion took place in Jarf al-Nadaf region in Jisr Diala district, south of Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The politician survived the attempt on his life, while one of his bodyguards was wounded,” he added.

#5: update Four bombs exploded one after the other in western Baghdad, wounding nine people, including four policemen, police said.

Diyala Prv:#1: In Diyala province, three people were wounded when a booby- trapped motorcycle exploded in the town of Buhruz south of the provincial capital of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from Diyala's operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: On the same day, a woman was critically wounded when gunmen opened fire on her outside her house in western Baquba, the source said.

#3: Also in the province, a roadside bomb struck a U.S. patrol in the al-Sindiyah area north of Baquba, damaging a military vehicle, the source said without giving further details about casualties as the U.S. troops sealed off the scene.

Kirkuk:#1: Two people have been injured when a group of unknown armed men, wearing military uniform, opened fire on them in northern Iraq’s Kirkuk city on Wednesday night, a source in the Joint Coordination Center in Kirkuk said on Thursday. “Three unknown armed men, dressed in military uniform, opened fire from a vehicle late Wednesday night in Kirkuk’s Shorja district, where a police force found two persons wounded by the attack and drove them to a nearby hospital,” the source added. He said the investigations pointed out that one of the wounded men was an officer in Kurdistan Region.

Mosul:#1: One Iraqi soldier was wounded Wednesday in an armed attack in western Mosul, a police source said. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire on an army checkpoint in al-Arabi neighborhood, western Mosul, injuring a soldier, and fled to an unknown place,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Two policemen were wounded when attackers threw a bomb at a police patrol in western Mosul, police said.

Al Anbar Prv:#1: Head of the security committee of Anbar council escaped on Wednesday an assassination attempt in southern Falluja, according to a security source. “Eifan Saadon survived on Wednesday evening (Oct. 13) an assassination attempt when a bomb exploded targeting his motorcade in Al-Bu Hatem region in al-Ameriya district, southern Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion damaged his vehicle,” he added, without giving further details.

#2: Suspected US unmanned aircraft launched four missile strikes at a house and two vehicles in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Wednesday evening, killing 11 militants, including three foreigners, said intelligence officials. The attacks occurred within about an hour in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region that is dominated by militant groups that often attack US and other foreign troops in Afghanistan. The first attack occurred at about 9 pm and targeted a house in Lataka village, killing four militants, said the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media. Minutes later, a drone attacked a vehicle nearby, killing two foreign militants, said the officials. A second vehicle was attacked about 15 minutes later, killing three militants, including one foreigner, they said. The final attack targeted militants collecting bodies from the house destroyed in the first strike, killing two of them, said the officials.

#3: AN Australian soldier is in a satisfactory condition after sustaining a single, serious gunshot wound to the leg while on patrol in Afghanistan. The Defence website says his patrol was attacked by insurgents with a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire on 13 October, in the Baluchi Valley region of Uruzgan Province. The soldier was a member of a joint Afghan and Australian patrol which was engaged by insurgents with a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire yesterday, in the Baluchi Valley region of the Oruzgan province. No other soldiers were wounded.

#4: Taliban militants' attack in Kandahar, south of Afghanistan, wounded at least three people on Thursday morning, an eye witness said. "The attack occurred against a convoy of trucks in 3rd precinct of provincial capital Kandahar city at around 08:30 a.m. local time wounding three drivers," Asmatullah who escaped the attack told Xinhua. He also said that the attackers were riding motorbikes and made their good escape. Three trucks were also set on fire by the attackers. All the trucks were hired and served for NATO-led troops based in Kandahar, Asmatullah further said.